Aetherios System [Slow Build OP MC, Isekai LitRPG/Cultivation] Chapter 130: Book 2: Chapter 44: Friendly Visitors

Read chapter 130 of Aetherios System [Slow Build OP MC, Isekai LitRPG/Cultivation] by TTReynolds on NovelPedia.

Book 2: Chapter 44: Friendly Visitors Book 2: Chapter 44: Friendly Visitors By the third day that week, the enemy started hesitating before throwing their main force into “easy” targets. Not because they were losing, not at first. No, they were still stronger, still had more troops, better supply lines, embedded anchor wards and spellcasters in damned flying platforms and all those many, many Cloud-Falcons. But they paused when they saw them. The Worldstriders, the Earthbreakers. And hesitation, as it turns out, was a luxury they couldn’t afford. Henry went out first. He stood near the middle of the Terraxum advance, calm as stone while arcane bombardments rained around him. When the ground started trembling with the Aeralith charge, everyone assumed he’d pull back. Instead, he planted one foot forward, slammed his halberd into the ground, and roared. The glyph-lines Alex had helped Devon etch into the sub-trench ahead of Henry detonated in sequence. An entire channel of the enemy's charge dropped six feet into a muddy death trap. Crushed bones, screams. Shields half-buried, flailing about as a hundred men and women were buried and trampled over. Henry stood unmoving as the dust settled. Helmetless, face blank and eyes hard. Someone from the Terraxum line whispered the word “Titan.” It stuck. Lance struck next. He’d been tailing a lead element of Aeralith soldiers through the woods near the forward basin, flanking them. When the enemy mages reached the sigil stones Alex and Devon had placed in a fallen tree, Lance was already there. Aether shimmered behind his blade. He raised it once and let it hum. The moment the enemy activated their channeling staves, the glyphs ignited. Anchor Wards. The ambient aether in the surrounding area locked into place, ending their spells before they could finish the casting. Many fizzled out, others backlashed from the energy overlaod. Half of them detonated on the spot, fire and blue-white arcs crackling through their own lines. By the time Lance stepped forward, the remaining mages dropped their weapons and tried to run. He dashed between them, cutting down mages likely a deathly ghost. And then there was Kate. Neck deep in a frontal engagement, arrows rained, spell-bolts flashed by in a dizzying light rave. Her attention wasn’t on any of that though, instead her eyes were locked on her target. She activated [ Flame Blitz ] in a single breath, fire wreathing her body in a phoenix halo, rippling with kinetic force. Then she was gone . A flash, a streak of emberlight cutting between spears and glyph-nets, headed straight for the enemy command squad. The officer didn’t even have time to call for a shield. Kate’s rapier took him in the chest, searing metal and flesh in a single lunge. She didn’t stick around after, she just vanished again, scattering condensed firebolts in her wake, sending enemy troops scrambling for cover. The with the death of their regiment leader, the command chain snapped, orders failed. The Aeralith formation crumbled like dried clay in the sun. By the time the Terraxum banners pushed forward again, the enemy had already begun retreating . Alex watched it all with a smile. The enemy forces weren’t blind. They too saw what Alex and his team were doing each day on the battle field. It wasn’t long that they heard the rumors and whispers from the other side too. “Don’t engage the squad with the Wind Mage woman in the silver cloak.” “The one with the halberd and water magic crushed a dozen men on his own.” “There’s one who rides fire like it’s a mount, I saw her melt through steel with her sword and dance through it.” “They don’t get tired.” “They don’t miss.” “They come for your officers first.” Terror crept in at the edges of Aeralith’s discipline. Officers began wearing glamours to hide their rank. Mages pulled out before engagements started. Units surrendered when the terrain turned in the Striders’ favor. They had become a symbol . And symbols… well, they were far more dang